MITSUGIRLYS EPIC CRUISE--2nd time around-1st from Port Canaveral

[SquishTheWhale]

I'm very excited to read this review! The Epic was my first ever cruise so I can't wait to read all about your trip and see all your pics. I've been reading all your port reviews recently as we have a cruise to the Western Caribbean next year and I'm clueless about what to do in the ports, so your detailed reviews are sooooo helpful!

 

Also, I only just realised we have the same camera- even the same red colour! Obviously both have excellent taste in cameras :cool: I used to have a underwater Fujifilm one but the picture quality was pretty pants. Loving the Tough TG-4 though!

[mabones]

Welcome Back!! I need something to read before I leave this coming Sunday for 2 cruises which will be a 4-day on the Sky and then a 7-day on the Escape! We will also hit Platinum during the Sky Cruise.

[dna529]

Can't wait to read more! We will be on the Epic in December. I can't believe what a horrible embarkation you had! We just sailed from there on Carnival in August and it was great. I always love how NCL greets you compared to Carnival, so that must have been disappointing. Also, I can relate to the fluffiness and trying to get up all those stairs! I'm 44 and my husband swears I'm going to have a heart attack right there on the cruise because I'm so out if breath! :)

 

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[Sissaaaaaa]

 

CRUISE PORT TRANSPORTATION COMPANY:

 

We checked the boards and it was suggested to use Goportcanaveral for our needs because they would pick us up at the hotel in Orlando and transport to the cruise port and then back to the airport and they had a fairly decent price for our group of 8. So, we booked and prepaid ahead of time.

 

I had to actually call them to book and couldn't do an online booking because their bookings only said from the airport to PC. I booked and they said I would receive a confirmation in my email in a few days.

 

When I received the confirmation, IT HAD THE WRONG DATES ON IT!!! GASP! They had me down for transportation from the hotel to the cruise port on Nov 11th and we needed the 12th.

 

I immediately called them and they looked in their system and said they indeed had me down for the 12th, but the people typing in the confirmations had typed it up wrong. They sent me out a new revised confirmation within the day and I printed it out. I might add that I also received another confirmation for another family, which resulted in yet another called to this company to let them know that I received a confirmation that didn't belong to me and they might want to make sure that this other family received their confirmation because they were probably waiting on it.

 

Now, after making this reservation, fast forward to the 11th. We were on our way to the airport when I received a "weird" number phone call that was long distance and I didn't recognize the number, so I didn't answer. About 20 minutes later the number called again. Again, I didn't answer and figured if it was important, they would leave a message. About 30 minutes later I received another weird number phone call, but this time it said "Florida". So, I decided to answer it. It was the hotel (Doubletree) asking if I needed picked up and taken to the cruise port and they said my transportation was there. GASP! I told them that I haven't even left my home town and don't arrive in Orlando until later in the day and our cruise wasn't until the following day. The guy on the phone from the hotel said "yes, that's what I figured because I told them that you hadn't even checked into our hotel yet but he's standing here in the lobby saying he's here to pick your family up. Don't worry, I'll straighten it out for you." At this point I'm a little perturbed to say the least. Did they or didn't they have the right day? Was I going to be stranded on the day that I actually needed the transportation? I was beginning to wish I had never booked with them if this was any indication as to what was to come.

 

So fast forward to today...cruise day. We headed down to the lobby at 11:30am. Our instructions on our booking said that pick up would be between 11:45 and noon. When I was on the phone with them booking, they told me to BE EARLY!! They said they were normally early for pick ups and they did not want to have to wait and we needed to be outside waiting on them before the 11:45am scheduled time. Ok, kinda rude, but whatever. It's later than we wanted to leave anyhow so earlier is better...considering we had about a 45 minute ride to the port. This would be the latest we had ever arrived to a port. But, we had no choice and we could not pick our time to be picked up.

 

We impatiently waited for the email all while the shuttle did not show up and I was getting worried. I didn't dare call to see where they were at because we were having a crisis of our own at the moment and the last thing I wanted was for them to actually show up and us not have the email at that point. However, since it was now 12:15 and a half hour AFTER the time they told us we better be standing outside waiting on them and to not make them wait, I figured we had been waiting on them for a half hour and THEY were late so if they did arrive, they WOULD wait on us whether they liked it or not.

 

At 12:15 I received the awaited email...we printed her documents and luggage tags and I immediately got on the phone with the shuttle service to inquire where our ride was. I was told "we had problems with the driver" and they would arrive in about 10 minutes. They showed up 30 minutes later.

 

We piled in and off we went, then the driver does a U-turn and heads in a different direction and says "I now need to pick up 3 more people" SAY WHAT???? WHERE THE HELL-O DO YOU THINK YOU ARE PUTTING THEM? The only seat available was the one in the front with the driver.

 

We arrived at another hotel where there was a lot of commotion going on with another driver that had a luggage trailer they pulled in the back of the van. I guess there were more people booked in that van that there was space. We couldn't hear what was going on but a lot of hands up in the air was going on while we sat there for at least 8-10 minutes while they figured out what to do. We ended up with 2 of their passengers with one sitting in the front seat and the other squeezed in the back after we had to do some switching of seats with the little ones.

 

 

Exactly why we no longer use shared shuttles. We only book private cars now, and they really are not that much more money. Well worth it to not have to deal with aggravation like this!!!

[SenatorsFan]

Hi Kim, I'm so happy to see you have already started your review! :) Epic is on my long cruise bucket list so I'm looking forward to all the details. I cannot believe how long that line at embarkation was. :eek: We've seen nothing like that when we've sailed from Port Canaveral in the past; it's been a few years now, but wow, that's just crazy!

Heather

[mitsugirly]

Did you happen to get any Photo's of Kolin & Courtney's " sideways " cabin?

 

Did they like it?

.

 

They did not have a sideways cabin. It was just a normal interior.

 

 

Oh my goodness.. I was just wondering last week when you were going on your next cruise! Yea!

 

Ok... on to reading... It is really amazing that you take the time to do this!!

 

 

Aww thanks. I appreciate it and glad you like them. :)

 

I'm very excited to read this review! The Epic was my first ever cruise so I can't wait to read all about your trip and see all your pics. I've been reading all your port reviews recently as we have a cruise to the Western Caribbean next year and I'm clueless about what to do in the ports, so your detailed reviews are sooooo helpful!

 

Also, I only just realised we have the same camera- even the same red colour! Obviously both have excellent taste in cameras :cool: I used to have a underwater Fujifilm one but the picture quality was pretty pants. Loving the Tough TG-4 though!

 

I really enjoy the western caribbean cruises even though we have done them so many times, there's always something new to explore. They seem to be the "cheaper" cruises to book too so that's an added plus and one of the reasons we have done them so much. Hopefully you can find something you like to do. If you have any questions, ask away.

 

I need to take the time to explore my TG-4 a little more. I really have no idea what all it does (other than the few things I listed) and I did try out the timelapse, but have no idea how you actually put it together to make the movie, so I'll have to read up on it before I get to that part of the review. lol

 

 

Welcome Back!! I need something to read before I leave this coming Sunday for 2 cruises which will be a 4-day on the Sky and then a 7-day on the Escape! We will also hit Platinum during the Sky Cruise.

 

Thank you Susan. I don't know how much I'll be able to get to before you leave this Sunday. I hope you have a wonderful extended cruise. We did that once...7 days on the Sun then 4 (or was it 5?? I can't remember) on the Sky. It was a lot of fun.

 

 

 

Can't wait to read more! We will be on the Epic in December. I can't believe what a horrible embarkation you had! We just sailed from there on Carnival in August and it was great. I always love how NCL greets you compared to Carnival, so that must have been disappointing. Also, I can relate to the fluffiness and trying to get up all those stairs! I'm 44 and my husband swears I'm going to have a heart attack right there on the cruise because I'm so out if breath! :)

 

 

I have only sailed from there once before, back in 2013 and on the Carnival Dream, and we never had a problem. Actually I have never had this problem no matter where we sail from or who we sail with. It was just a nightmare.

 

Out of breath and stairs go hand-in-hand for me these days. Ugh.

 

 

 

Exactly why we no longer use shared shuttles. We only book private cars now, and they really are not that much more money. Well worth it to not have to deal with aggravation like this!!!

 

We have used the shared shuttles in the past and never had this problem. We had a few "bloopers" or small extended wait times, but never like this before. Wait until you read coming back! YIKES!

 

 

 

Hi Kim, I'm so happy to see you have already started your review! :) Epic is on my long cruise bucket list so I'm looking forward to all the details. I cannot believe how long that line at embarkation was. :eek: We've seen nothing like that when we've sailed from Port Canaveral in the past; it's been a few years now, but wow, that's just crazy!

Heather

 

Yep, I wanted to get right on it after returning. I really like returning on a Saturday from a cruise, instead of Sunday. I feel like I have that extra day to get everything downloaded and to start working on it.

[brookie848]

This plane was FULL OF NOTHING BUTS KIDS!!! Screaming, crying, yelling kids. Yikes. It took me awhile to figure this out. I mean this is November and school is in. We are traveling on the "off" season. Why are there so many munchkins on this plane???? The the flight attendant comes on a tells everyone that's playing hookie from school that they need to read a book each day they are out of school...then wishes everyone a happy trip to Orlando and visiting with MICKEY! Oh my goodness that darn mouse! He's the one causing all this chaos. I had never even considered the amount of kids that might be on this flight because of it going to Orlando. Sigh.

 

When we booked for 2018, we debated on whether to do the Epic or the Escape. One of our discussion points was that if we book the Epic, that means that we would be a long flight filled with children. For this and other reasons, we ended up booking the Escape.

 

My parents stayed in Kendra's cabin. When they did (2014), they did have a lounger on their balcony. You could have tried requesting one. I liked the location of these cabins. Really close the elevators, which was important for my mom, who has some mobility issues.

[mitsugirly]

After checking out our room, we headed over to Kendra's room to check hers out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Obviously she had the better view in port.

 

 

 

 

 

[cruzin Phillis]

OMG Kim...gone again!! You never keep us hanging. Going to be like you when I grow up!!

[mitsugirly]

 

 

Carnival was leaving...

 

 

 

 

 

Obviously I was trying out my new camera and settings.

 

 

So we had checked out each others rooms and put our things down to lighten the load. Our luggage was not at our rooms yet so it was time to head up to the pool deck and to the bar. We REALLY needed a drink at this point and time to relax a little.

 

 

 

I believe this will be the first cruise that Kolin is "legal" and gets the drink package. He's 22 now and his last cruise he was a month shy of turning 21 last year and I still had to sign for him to drink beer/wine. So, he's happy.

 

In case any of you wondered...my family are not drinkers. They only time we ever drink is on a special occasion (like at a birthday dinner or maybe a drink on New Years Eve and the kids will have a drink at a bar every so often to celebrate a relatives birthday) or....when we are on a cruise with NCL, that offers the drink package. Then we are sometimes like kids in a candy store making up for lost time. (j/k, or am I?) This cruise, Kolin will completely de-plenish the entire supply of Angry Orchard on the entire ship. I'm almost sure he singlehandedly did this on his own (by Thursday I believe). LOL Yes, we take advantage of this package, then we will probably never touch another drink until the next cruise. No we are not drunk drinkers either and never get out of hand. Well, maybe Billy sometimes, but he's the exception of the group and moma bear has to put him in his place every so often.

 

This was before he discovered the ship had angry orchards. He hates Budweiser....but put on a happy face for the picture. LOL

 

 

 

[SquishTheWhale]

 

I need to take the time to explore my TG-4 a little more. I really have no idea what all it does (other than the few things I listed) and I did try out the timelapse, but have no idea how you actually put it together to make the movie, so I'll have to read up on it before I get to that part of the review. lol

 

Oh me too- I keep getting it stuck in various picture modes when I'm playing with it and not being able to get back out! A while ago I was just trying to photo my food and couldn't work out why it was coming out weird- my fiancé had left it in panorama mode lol so I was just taking loads of weird shaky panoramas of my dinner plate! But, the 'fish' symbol is the most important one anyway, right? :)

[Arzeena]

I am officially back from my Epic cruise and trying to get settled back in and started on this review.

 

I'll get the "details" about me out of the way for those that do not know me yet...(copied and pasted from previous reviews WITH updates regarding this cruise status).

 

 

YAYYYYY! Looking forward to reading it.

[mitsugirly]

We were getting hungry since we hadn't ate since that morning. We headed in to the buffet and it was still very crowded. I don't recall this ship being this crowded when we were on it in 2010 and I sure don't remember ANY of my other cruises being this crowded either. If this was any indication of what the week was going to be like....

 

Our sail away was supposed to be at 4pm, but we were sitting in port still. Obviously we didn't pull out at 4pm because we were not even ON the ship until after 4pm.

 

At 5:37pm...we pulled out...FINALLY! But wait, what happened to the safety drill??? Are we not having one until later? Will we have one tonight? What is going on?

 

I would later find out that the safety drill was around 3:30pm and they were letting everyone out about the time that we were getting on. THIS!!!! This was the reason that all the elevators were taken and crowded and we were filling like we were at some rock concert ready to body surf in order to make it anywhere. So, hopefully this meant that things would calm down throughout the cruise and it wouldn't seem as bad.

 

A few pictures of it getting dark...

 

 

 

 

 

We headed back to the room for awhile and Sakari watched The good dinosaur movie until 7:45. The room steward stopped by twice asking to turn down our room for the night because someone had turned our rotation wheel on the outside of the door to "turn down room".

 

We took Sakari to Splash kids club so that we could go explore a little more and fill our kidneys with some of that tasty liquid.

 

I had two bartenders ask me what I wanted to drink and I told them both. So, I got a two-for-two-bartenders drink special. Who knew you could do this? Hmmm. insertbiggrinhere

 

 

 

 

Kolin and Courtney always take a picture each cruise by the light...forgive me but I'm still learning my camera and whenever I use the flash on it, there's a shadow to the right. Anyone know what I'm doing wrong? Also, Kolin had still not learned that the ship carried Angry Orchard at this point and he was still nursing a Budweiser that he absolutely hated.

 

 

 

 

[okeytaco]

Thanks for such a great review! We're doing a TA on the Epic in April in a balcony. I noticed your coffee maker. It looks like the one I have at home that makes one cup and you pull out a little tray and put in a flat round pod. Am I right about that? We're kinda' picky about coffee and I'll bring my own pods if I know I'm bringing the right kind. Thanks again for the review!

[CarlaMasterson]

 

 

Carnival was leaving...

 

 

 

 

 

Obviously I was trying out my new camera and settings.

 

 

So we had checked out each others rooms and put our things down to lighten the load. Our luggage was not at our rooms yet so it was time to head up to the pool deck and to the bar. We REALLY needed a drink at this point and time to relax a little.

 

 

 

I believe this will be the first cruise that Kolin is "legal" and gets the drink package. He's 22 now and his last cruise he was a month shy of turning 21 last year and I still had to sign for him to drink beer/wine. So, he's happy.

 

In case any of you wondered...my family are not drinkers. They only time we ever drink is on a special occasion (like at a birthday dinner or maybe a drink on New Years Eve and the kids will have a drink at a bar every so often to celebrate a relatives birthday) or....when we are on a cruise with NCL, that offers the drink package. Then we are sometimes like kids in a candy store making up for lost time. (j/k, or am I?) This cruise, Kolin will completely de-plenish the entire supply of Angry Orchard on the entire ship. I'm almost sure he singlehandedly did this on his own (by Thursday I believe). LOL Yes, we take advantage of this package, then we will probably never touch another drink until the next cruise. No we are not drunk drinkers either and never get out of hand. Well, maybe Billy sometimes, but he's the exception of the group and moma bear has to put him in his place every so often.

 

This was before he discovered the ship had angry orchards. He hates Budweiser....but put on a happy face for the picture. LOL

 

 

 

 

Cruising on Dec 3rd with 19 yr old(legal here in Canada) that I will be signing for. Is Angry Orchard part of the beer/wine that she would be allowed to order? She doesn't like beer or wine but likes cider.

[mitsugirly]

I'm a lightweight and as mentioned before, very rarely drink. Those last 2 drinks really did me in. But Courtney INSISTED that I needed to get another drink with her. So I obliged.

 

 

 

Awww, this bartender was nice.

 

 

 

 

 

We went and checked out the shopping area and did a little "window shopping" because I don't like to buy anything until later in the cruise when they have the big blow-out sale trying to reduce inventory like if it was the first time that they've ever had that sale before and your cruise was the first and only cruise to have this happen. You feel special don't you? You feel like you have saved more than anyone else. I wanted to feel special and therefore I would be waiting on my purchases until a much later date.

 

We decided we'd head to the casino to try our luck and then gave up when we discovered.....MOST of the slots that I like to play (Carnival Rio, Wild Tornado, Haunted House, Chamillion, Wild Pixies, Lucky Lava, Wild Rainforest and so on) are lined up and down the middle section and I would soon find out that MOST of them did NOT accept the coupons and only wanted you to insert cash!! Seriously? So, I insert cash in the slot, I play, I cash out, then I can not insert it into another slot? Only cash? It was aggravating.

 

That didn't last long and we headed out of the casino around 9:30pm and decided to wonder around some more.

 

We came to the arcade and Kolin and Courtney would try their luck at a few games.

 

 

 

 

We found the kids water area and I had wondered what they replaced the Nickelodeon themed characters with....nemo and ocean themed stuff is now there. Yippee! I love it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

My free parents time was about over and time to pick up the munchkin from Splash at 10:30pm. We decided to head to the buffet for dinner and ended up outside at the Garden buffet area.

 

 

It hit the spot and Sakari had some cookies (she loves cookies).

 

We needed one more drink before we headed to the room and discovered that the bartenders would allow you to get virgin drinks of whatever you were having for the kids. Sakari ended up with her version of a Strawberry daiquiri, topped off with cherries, because, well it's still a fruit and it's still red, so she'll never know the difference right?

 

 

 

The pool area was lit up just like I remember it and so pretty.

 

 

 

Back to our room we would find a gift waiting for us on the bed....thanks to all the money I invested to become platinum...I deserve chocolate covered strawberries...even if I don't like chocolate. Sakari would eat them and so would Kolin. Then the box of 4 Godiva chocolates all the kids would end up splitting. Once again, I don't care for chocolate (unless it's a drink).

 

 

We showered, watched a little tv and headed to bed because it had been a L-O-N-G and exhausting day.

[Debbie1189]

Loved your drink with you name! :D Thank you for taking the time to do your reviews. They are so helpful!

[mitsugirly]

When we booked for 2018, we debated on whether to do the Epic or the Escape. One of our discussion points was that if we book the Epic, that means that we would be a long flight filled with children. For this and other reasons, we ended up booking the Escape.

 

My parents stayed in Kendra's cabin. When they did (2014), they did have a lounger on their balcony. You could have tried requesting one. I liked the location of these cabins. Really close the elevators, which was important for my mom, who has some mobility issues.

 

Did you post pictures on here of Kendra's cabin? I know there was someone that did and they had a lounger and that's what made me book it. I was disappointed that they didn't have one on it. I figured I could try to request one, but just never bothered doing it. The location is FABULOUS! I absolutely loved it. So easy to get to the elevators and only 1 floor up to the food. :D

 

OMG Kim...gone again!! You never keep us hanging. Going to be like you when I grow up!!

 

 

Who me? I had to go pick up Sakari from the bus stop. First day back to school after being gone last week and she only has school today and tomorrow. Then she's off again for another 5 days. Lucky her! Then Kolin and Courtney came home and invited me out to eat with them. Sorry about disappearing. :(

 

 

Oh me too- I keep getting it stuck in various picture modes when I'm playing with it and not being able to get back out! A while ago I was just trying to photo my food and couldn't work out why it was coming out weird- my fiancé had left it in panorama mode lol so I was just taking loads of weird shaky panoramas of my dinner plate! But, the 'fish' symbol is the most important one anyway, right? :)

 

That happened to me as well when I was trying to do the Interval Shooting or the Live Composite. After pressing the shutter, I couldn't get it to stop taking pictures when I wanted it too. I would have to completely turn the camera off. I was so excited when I got the camera that I forgot to even take the instruction book with me on the cruise (I was planning on lounging in my LOUNGE CHAIR on my huge balcony and read up and experiment with it, but I forgot the book and didn't get the lounge chair...so....). After this review is done, I will definitely be locating that book and playing around with the settings to get better at my pictures. I have a LOT of wasted pictures that I took this time around. BOO!!!

 

 

YAYYYYY! Looking forward to reading it.

Thanks and glad you are this excited to read it. hehe :D

 

 

Thanks for such a great review! We're doing a TA on the Epic in April in a balcony. I noticed your coffee maker. It looks like the one I have at home that makes one cup and you pull out a little tray and put in a flat round pod. Am I right about that? We're kinda' picky about coffee and I'll bring my own pods if I know I'm bringing the right kind. Thanks again for the review!

 

Honestly, since I'm not a coffee drinker, I didn't really notice how it worked. I can tell you that it was the single cups they had for it. It had 2 gold square packages that came with it, but since the hubby didn't use them, we didn't open them to see if they were round. Hopefully someone else that has used them can answer.

 

 

Cruising on Dec 3rd with 19 yr old(legal here in Canada) that I will be signing for. Is Angry Orchard part of the beer/wine that she would be allowed to order? She doesn't like beer or wine but likes cider.

 

Yes, Angry Orchard is part of the drink package. :D

[mitsugirly]

As always, the next part of the review involves the ship itself. This takes a lot of time to do because I now have to sort out all of the ship pictures from the 3000+ pictures I have taken at various times during the entire cruise and then put them in their own folder, then once again...sort them according to the floor they are located on, then again...sort them according to the venue. This takes a lot of time...so I'll be back.....when I am back. :D :p

[pdmartyn65]

Always love your reviews. Usually find them just before I am about to sail on that ship. But you're too late this time! [emoji12] We were on the Epic for its last western Mediterranean run this year. Then we moved over to the Jade for her transatlantic. I must say even though we enjoyed our cruise on her, I won't be looking to specifically book another trip on her unless the itinerary is right. She is too big and not really built for viewing the sea from. Just our opinion. [emoji846]

 

 

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Edited November 22, 2016 by pdmartyn65

[Laszlo]

Hey Kim

Are you planning an Alaskan cruise?

[BlueJai]

Hey Kim! We were thrilled to learn you were on the Epic for the first time out of Canaveral. Have loved ALL of your cruise reviews and have used them when trying new ships, your reviews are fantastic.

 

So, really happy to see you on the Epic and looking forward to seeing your review. I am really hoping you had a good time:)

[TJ92813]

Following! Love it!

[Newbcruiser1]

Following along! I was on the TA cruise right before yours so it's like I'm reliving it! :)

 

What a disastrous embarkation day you had! If it makes you feel aaaaannnny better, I got stuck in line outside the terminal in Barcelona for over an hour and the ship left late from there too (although apparently that was due to a sick crew member who had to leave the ship, as well as some late deliveries).

 

 

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